Trelane
"General Trelane (retired). At your service, sir." It was in this fashion that the puckish alien Trelane (played by William Campbell) introduced itself to several [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]] crew in 2267. That year, the Enterprise was en route to Beta VI colony to deliver supplies, when it encountered a previously unknown planet. This planet, Gothos, was the home of the powerful alien Trelane. Trelane transported first Sulu, and then Kirk from the bridge of the starship to the fortified manor he had constructed on Gothos. The Enterprise assumed orbit, and sent a landing party into what they expected would be hostile conditions. Instead, they encountered and Earth-like oasis. There, the landing party discovered Trelane's home, and within it, the two missing officers -- and Trelane himself. Trelane wore a blue tailcoat over a white frilled shirt and green riding pants with black boots. These clothes, along with his hairstyle and mannerisms, were intended to suggest what he believed conditions on Earth to be at the time. In fact, he was viewing an image of Earth some centuries out of date, perhaps a consequence of the fact he was over nine hundred light-years away. The officers were found in a paralyzed state, but were quickly freed by Trelane, who did it with a wave of his hand. This was the first evidence of his superhuman abilities; there would be others. Trelane was initially quite friendly, but made it clear that his were the rules to be followed, and that the landing party would stay until he chose to let them leave. He made several attempts to ingratiate himself with the landing party, but as his customs were centuries out of date, his attempts served only to amuse the Enterprise crew. Trelane explained himself and his surroundings by stating that he, and others, had perfected a means by which matter could be converted into energy, and back into matter. When Kirk compared this to the transporter, Trelane dismissed that as a crude example of an infinitely more sophisticated process, elaborating by saying that he was able to re-structure matter, essentially the way a replicator does, albeit far more rapidly. In addition, he was able to maintain a field around his planet that blocked scanning and communications, and was able to confer skills onto others -- he taught Uhura to play the harpsichord with a wave of his hand. Unable to obtain a specific lock through Trelane's blocking field, Spock beamed up all life-forms in a general radius, returning all Enterprise crew to the ship. Trelane did not beam up, suggesting that he was not life, or at least, not the kind of life the Enterprise instruments were designed for. Kirk returned to the bridge, ordering the ship to depart -- but Trelane was there. And he quickly returned the entire bridge crew to his drawing room for a meal. During the meal, McCoy noticed that the food had no flavor, while Karl Jaeger commented that the fire burned brightly, but emitted no heat. These things, and Trelane's error in time, suggested that he wasn't infallible. Kirk and Spock further theorized that some external agency was actually responsible for most of his tricks. When Kirk noticed Trelane rarely strayed far from his large wall mirror, he formed a plan. Tricking Trelane into an old-fashioned duel, Kirk shot the mirror -- which exploded spectacularly. Deprived of his support mechanisms, Trelane was unable to prevent the Enterprise crew from departing, but swore they were all dead men. The ship departed quickly, but Trelane had other instrumentalities at his command -- powerful enough to move his planet and intercept the Enterprise, to return Kirk to Gothos. There, Trelane had altered the setting, so that he was now a judge determined to sentence Kirk for the crimes of treason against a superior authority, conspiracy, and the attempt to foment insurrection. But it was all too easy for him. Kirk seized on this, suggesting that what Trelane needed was a challenge. He talked Trelane into an sword fight. If he won, Trelane would let the ship go, if he lost, he'd die. Trelane hunted Kirk for a time, using his powers to evade Kirk's attacks and finally to trap Kirk in a cage. But even then, Kirk wouldn't cooperate -- he seized Trelane's sword and broke it, an act which drove Trelane into a rage. Kirk realized something about Trelane then -- that he had a lot to learn about winning, and in fact, a lot to learn about everything. And then... Trelane's parents appeared. Their discussion with Trelane confirmed Kirk's realization -- that, for all his power, Trelane was little more than a spoiled child. Trelane's parents took him away and apologized to Kirk, but would not answer his questions about Trelane or themselves, beyond apologizing for Trelane's misbehavior. :Despite the power at his disposal, Trelane made rather significant mistakes, suggesting great immaturity or a relatively poor or basic education. This is consistent with his parents' references to him as a child. The vast powers at his disposal were therefore likely to be insignificant compared to what adults of his species could accomplish; his instrumentality, and even his planet of Gothos, were little more than toys by their standards. Reference *TOS: "The Squire of Gothos"